“Washed Away” was written in the distant European summer of 2001 during a tour in the South of Italy with my band at the time “upCedown” I knew I was about to deal with some shit in my life and as they often do, my song words pre-warned it…
But the music development was quite a meander to what you are about to hear.
In 2003 during the recording sessions for the amazing project “Open your Eyes” I unveiled my open A progression song with my distinctive idea of a 5/4 section bass line to my partner in crime, Philipp Maier.
The great thing about Philipp is that he was enthusiastic about my crazy ideas (always has been) So we collaborated and cam up with the “Washed Away” version that is on the Album “Open your Eyes” and also featured on the Album “Greatest bits”. Great work with a full orchestra.
But of course with an arrangement for full orchestra, it wasn’t conducive to being played at normal band gigs. However I loved the song.
In 2006, the opportunity for an original gig arose sometime in Cape Town and I then proposed the crazy idea of a band arrangement to Shaun Johannes who I was working with at the time. The great thing about Shaun is that he was enthusiastic about my crazy ideas (always has been)…
Are you starting to see a trend?
Anyway, Shaun then comes up with this brilliant idea of putting a minor chord at the beginning of the verse and suddenly I get all excited. But still the arrangement was never easy to play with the restricted rehearsals times we always had and it kind of stayed as a shaky live performance.
When it came to do the release concert in 2013 for the Album “Moments in time“, I decided to revive “Washed Away” in its band format and decided to funk it up a little. It was still a tough song to play live (Always will be)
It was only when I listened back to the bad recording I had of that evening’s performance that I noticed something in the way Guitar wiz Donovan Hatting had played the solo. There was something unique that made me jump up and say; “I gotta re-record this song!” It’s not that the original was bad, it was that this had a different energy about it.
After working on the song some more with Shaun Johannes we got Heindrich Goosen into the studio and managed to let the two of them lose on the track with a clear structure.
Then steps in Italian Keyboard player Davide Pistone.
Davide has a true gift for assimilating the energy behind the music. I picked that up whilst working with him on the project “Atom in Rome” So i ventured the idea of him collaborating on “Washed Away” and he came back with exactly the thing needed to push the song over the edge.
Grasping the idea of time signature sway and sound layers perfectly and with some mean playing thrown in the song took off.
But enough blah blah, there are more lyrics more changes and it has become somewhat of an epic… It was quite a song to mix!
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Lyrics:
How come I can’t hear what you say
Dreams of silence scream in my hear
Spiral thought the evil we crave
Step by step the madness ablaze
Buy into the chaos they sell
We believe the lies that they tell
We are left with only our fears,
Watching this short life disappear
It’s the summer of your life
Life of winter nights
As the light of day must pass
Like the shining in your eyes
All the sadness you despise
Washed away
It’s the voice that talks to you
At the darkest hour
The one that gets you through
The Brimstone and the fire
And there’s no one left to blame
When it’s all washed away
It’s the burning of your star
Crashing with intent
And you’ll need to travel far
When the beginning is the end
Like the shipwreck of your dreams
Washed away
And when madness comes to you
In the brightest hour
Nothing left to hold on to
Freedom and desire
And there’s nothing left to say
When it’s all washed away
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